The Flywheel

Program for November 10th, 2006

"We can do it! And we did it!"

Lois Boyle of the Richmond Museum Association will offer
stories and images about our city's essential role in
the homefront of World War II.

Meeting of October 20th, 2006

Welcome, Invocation, Thought for the Day

The note taker arrived to find Prez George Egan's
bell had already been rung and all were welcomed to Richmond
Rotary.

Visiting Rotarians

Welcome Pat Robertson, a resident of
Richmond and a member of Orinda Rotary.

Announcements

• Readers at Peres Elementary School are still
needed for Wed., Nov. 15; contact Margaret Morkowski

• Save Friday, December 1 for the Richmond/El Cerrito
Rotary Holiday party. For details, follow the link in
the sidebar.

• This year's auction is December 15. Be
creative in your contribution.

Special Events

Who am I? Cory Lawrence knows! The
youngest member of our club grew up in Fresno, lives
in Dublin and plans to move to Richmond with his new
bride (Cory became engaged last week!). His mom was a
school teacher while his dad worked for the Department
of Labor and the FBI and jumped out of airplanes. Cory
and his brother took a different path. Cory's brother
is in retail/commercial and Cory is in commercial real
estate working as Senior Associate for Cushman Wakefield
with John Troughton as his mentor. Way to go, Cory! We're
glad to have you in Richmond Rotary.

Recognitions

Leslie Levy was at the podium and called
upon Don Lau whose father will celebrate
his 90th birthday this weekend. Charlie
Fender and Clavel celebrated 64 years of wedded
bliss last September.

Happy and Sad Dollars

Mike Gilbert had sad dollars for the
passing of his wife's aunt. Nick Despota turned
his good fortune at finding ten dollars into a happy
moment. Ted Abreu is happy that
daughter Elizabeth is expecting his first granddaughter
on New Years Day 07. David Brown was
impressed to find flyers from the Superior Court (compliments
of Prez
George) seeking comment.

Raffle Results

Erle Brown is a winner!! He splits a whopping
$749 with his club.

The Program

Jim Young introduced guest speaker Mike
Hall, with Borrego Solar (www.borregosolar.com).
His company has bragging rights to the largest number
of photovoltaic (PV) panel installations in California
over the last 25 years. Mike addressed the history
and incentives for using solar power. He presented
pie charts that illustrated the facts:
we rely on fossil fuels (gas, coal and petroleum) for
86% of our needs; renewable sources like wind, water
and sun is the rest of the pie. Solar has just .06%
of that market.

The ability to harness energy through a PV panel was
invented in 1839. For reasons we'll leave to another
speaker, it's development for consumer use was inert
until California offered tax credits in the 1980s. Coinciding
with oil availability, the tax incentives went away -
and so did commercial improvement of the product.

Enter 2006 Federal incentives. Suddenly interest is
peaked again and with any luck, product efficiency will
be improved as a result. Perhaps the most intriguing
concept is the notion of watching your meter go backwards
during the day while your panels feed energy to PG&E.
Alas, this grid-tied solution stops short of earning
cash over and above what you use, but if planned correctly
you can bring your electric bill nearly down to nothing.
Lots of details were discussed. Panels aren't for every
roof - but most. Batteries are inefficient, so a generator
or the grid is better when the sun's not shining. Advancements
in converting DC to AC to match the electrical current
needs of appliances makes solar power 'cleaner' than
PG&E's electricity. And finally, evidence that commercial
building developers can be leaders in adopting solar
energy can be found right here in Richmond, at McCoy
on Barrett. The developer? Richmond Rotary's Mark Howe.

Thank you Mike Hall for your informative presentation
and willingness to answer our barrage of questions!

Respectfully submitted -jan b nimble

Upcoming Programs

November 17th
Rotary Peace Fellow Hélène Carvallo (of district 1660 in France) will tell us about the Peace Fellows program.

November 24th
No meeting (Thanksgiving)

December 15th
Holiday auction

The names of other speakers will be posted as they
become available.

Important Events

November 11
Mobile Eye Clinic for Tsunami victims in Thailand
open for visiting from 10AM to 4PM. Rio Vista City
Hall, 1 Main Street, Rio Vista.